Tshediso Matona is the former CEO of Eskom, South Africa’s public utility. Matona has bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science from the University of Cape Town, graduating in 1992. He went on to attend Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government before working as a negotiator in Geneva at the World Trade Organisation, and later Eskom.
Source: Eskom.co.za
David Fanning is the producer of the famous documentary series “Frontline,” a production of PBS, the American Public Broadcasting Service TV program distributor. Fanning graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1969 where he served as his school’s newspaper editor. By 1983 Fanning had founded “Frontline,” a series that combines investigative reporting with narrative storytelling to persuade viewers on a variety of pertinent topics including foreign policy and domestic tensions.
Source: Medialaw.org
South African anti-apartheid hero President Nelson Mandela attended the University of Witwatersrand where he studied law. It was here that Mandela was exposed to liberal, radical and Africanist thought. He spent six years at Wits from 1943 to 1948. The discrimination Mandela experienced during this time was so severe, he was forced to leave before completing his degree.
Source: Sahistory.org.za
Athlete Bruce Fordyce won the Comrades Marathon nine times, once with a record time of 5 hours and 37 minutes. The Comrades is an ultramarathon of 56 miles held annually in KwaZulu-Natal between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. It’s the world’s largest and oldest ultramarathon race. But Fordyce’s speed didn’t catch attention as much as what he wore to the race. In 1981, Fordyce wore a black armband to protest the apartheid government’s use of the marathon to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Republic of South Africa. Fordyce also wore Wits University colors, to make his victory a university one rather than a political one. Fordyce graduated three years prior, in 1978, with a bachelor of arts in archaeology.
Source: Witz.ac.za
Hendrick Ramaala was the winner of the 2004 New York City Marathon and the 2004 Mumbai Marathon. Ramaala began his sports career with soccer but realized running was his calling and a jogging group at Wits, where he was studying law. Ramaala went on to become one of the top runners in South Africa and placed 35th at the World Cross Country Championships in Durban.
Source: Runnersworld.com
Prince Harry’s on-again-off-again girlfriend earned a degree in economics from the University of Cape Town in 2006. The Zimbabwean native’s studies took her to the U.K. when she attended the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire. She became a solicitor, working at global mega-firm Allen & Overy. Davy recently quit law to begin a jewelry company, using most African emeralds. The couple officially split more than six years ago.
Sources: Legalcheek.com, Dailymail.co.uk
Former Miss South Africa Jo-Ann Strauss earned a law degree from Stellenbosch University in 2001. After graduating, she earned the title of Miss South Africa and one of the top 10 in the Miss World competition. Strauss also worked as a TV personality for several shows including “Pasella on Afrikaans TV and the English lifestyle show “Top Billing.”
Source: Tvsa.co.za
Comedian Casper de Vries studied drama at Stellenbosch University and has been a comedian and entertainer for nearly 30 years. De Vries first gained followers at the Grahamstown Arts Festival in the ’80s with his first one-man show, and since then has earned a great reputation in the Afrikaans community, as well as touring the world with his act. De Vries hung up the entertainment act in 2014 to become an artist.
Source: Channel24.co.za
